[Mr. E (Unverified) Posted Apr 10th 2008 4:24PM]

Wow, that's pretty surprising. I guess this should serve as a wakeup call to those who think it's a great idea to stock up on closeout HD DVDs. There's no guarantee that you'll be able to play those discs in the future--in fact it's quite probable that within the next 5-7 years there won't be any hardware or software available to replace a dead HD DVD player or drive.

Now, if you're buying HD DVDs and have a way to archive them to disk, that's a more future-proof strategy, but I still prefer to wait for the (eventual) BD version.

[Truth Teller (Unverified) Posted Apr 11th 2008 9:00AM]

Don't be silly Mr E.

I have a growing HD DVD collection and I'm adding to it all the time.

Every way around it kicks any Blu-ray option to death in terms of cost
(not forgetting that many of the out and out classics simply aren't available on Blu-ray yet anyways and who knows when or indeed if they will ever appear on Blu-ray?).

Besides I have nothing to worry about for the next 10yrs at least (which sees me well and truly into the next high def format, easily).

Anything I'm missing on Blu-ray I can easily download right now as everything currently released on Blu-ray is available to download.

I have a perfectly good copy of PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra anyways for my HD DVD add-on drive (picked up for peanuts).

I have my main standalone (which was an amazing deal inc 7 freebie HD DVD discs).

I have another brand new standalone (which cost peanuts) tucked away in case of breakages.

When did anybody last replace their DVD cos of breakdown and not upgrading?
I can honestly say I've never had a DVD player breakdown like that (and only once had a - get this, Sony - CD player pack up many years ago).

So that's 50+ HD DVD movies, an HD DVD PC ROM drive and 2 standalones all at a total cost far far below any possible Blu-ray alternative.

(not that any Blu-ray player even now comes close to matching the cost/spec of the HD A/EP35)